RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.
Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future
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RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC. Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future |
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| November 5, 2004 Dear Readers, I am in the office of the Feeding Center so that I will be available if our new bookkeeper has any questions. Thought this might be a good time to begin a letter to all of you who are interested in our activities. Our morning began at 6:30 with children lining up outside our house for scabies treatment. At one time I counted 20 preschool children waiting in line. I am finding that the new medicine that we purchased is very effective. One treatment seems to stop the scabies in all but the most severe cases. We have treated more serious cases than I would like to admit. How parents can ignore such serious cases is beyond me. From 6:30 until 9:00 we treated children non-stop. In many cases we had to take them into a room and have them completely strip down to bare skin. The worst areas are always in the most unmentionable places. The relief must be remarkable because these children come without being told. See pictures Community members coming for treatment are overwhelming us. Telling them that we treat only orphans isn’t helping. They continue to come. So we started charging everyone who is not an orphan. That isn’t slowing down the stream of people. So yesterday, all the village headmen and other village leaders from the three schools met here. They decided that we should up the charges to discourage the community from coming. Even then it doesn’t cover the cost of the medicine. These people are desperate and the local clinic rarely has medicine and what they do get is dispensed very quickly and then there is nothing. On Tuesday, we have an individual coming to manage the clinic. She will at some point have to go for training. However, for right now, we can show her what we have been doing and let her get started. This will give her a bit of time to gain a little experience before we leave. It will also give me a break and time to do some other things that need to be accomplished in the next very few weeks. She can go for training during school holiday. It is our goal that she visit Inyagui and Guzha at least one day a week each and the rest of the time will be spent here at Nyamashato. Hopefully, she can learn to ride a bike. Guzha is 15 km and the furthest away. That is a long way to have to walk. Today, Ralph is painting the metal cabinet we will be using in the clinic for drugs. The shower is complete. Ralph wants to make sure that it is completely dry before it is painted. We now need a stethoscope for blood pressure and a thermometer for taking children’s temperatures. The clinic has promised us a bed to be used as an examining table for the children. Slowly, everything is coming together We visited Bhunu Primary School recently. I mentioned this school in an earlier journal. The school is in a desperate situation. The headmaster has tried everything to get help and none is forthcoming. He is very near the point of giving up. One classroom building has a piece of barbed wire cemented in one wall and anchored to a stable wall to keep the one from falling outward. The Headmaster worries that it might give way when children are present. Sections of roof are missing in one case. In another area the classroom has completely fallen down. Termites are in the rafters. Two classes meet in some of the classrooms that are useable. Two teachers try to teach 80 plus children at one time. In one such room there are only three tables and a few chairs for these children to share. There are classes meeting under trees, but what are they to do when the rains comes??? And the rainy season is fast approaching. They are looking to us as their last hope. Unfortunately we are out of money and even if we had money, they are a good distance from here. We ask for your prayers for this school and Headmaster. It is going to take a miracle to put this school back in any kind of condition. See picture section. Bhunu has a school enrollment of about 345 children. 80 plus children are orphans. The Headmaster is doing what he can to help the children. The school raises vegetables that they give to the orphans on a daily basis. The maize and beans that they raised to sell for building money, the school ended up using to feed the children. My heart breaks when I think of the food in the U.S. that is wasted on a daily basis. How can any country let its children starve?? In spite of the preschoolers that I have been treating for scabies and ringworm, they are a happy bunch of children. They come running whenever they see me out. I have had reports that they refuse to eat at home. They tell their mothers that the food they get at the Feeding Center is better food. Try to visualize 120 plus children ages three to six seated for mealtime in the center. The chatter is deafening. However, they are beginning to learn that when they see me with my arm raised and my finger over my lips that it is time to get quiet. Some even copy what I am doing. I have to chuckle to myself. Some of you were instrumental in getting the sewing women started in their small business. It has been five long, difficult years teaching them. However, it is now paying off. They have come a long way and for the first time they are truly doing good work. In the picture section, you can see pictures of some of the things they made from the pieces of fabric you had given me to ship to them. Most of the things they have made are clothing for children. Many pieces have already been sold. This is all in addition to 89 uniforms they made for orphans during the month of October. Thanks to those of you who donated money for the purchase of their sewing machines. See picture section, you may recognize some of the fabric you donated. We ask that you pray for the many children who are suffering. Pray also that we will make wise decisions concerning the operation of the orphan care center. In His Service, Ralph and Roberta |
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Renewed Hope Charitable Foundation, Inc. | a 501(c)(3) charity | P.O. Box 1476 | Castle Rock, Colorado | 80104-1476 2004 Journal 08 |